And so, the last module of the course is finished. Unless you count dissertation as a module. And the final project. But anyway, the last taught module is done!
My space project, titled Helvetica in Space now has it’s own page (which I really, really should test in a browser other than Safari); with a video and everything. And yes, it’s still got capital Rs in it…
Yeah! I’ve managed to edit a capital R in Helvetica. It’s been harder than I thought it would be;
I’ve been using some free software tools (that’s open source, if you’re not keeping up with the lingo) on my eee pc to take apart font files. Or at least, I’ve been trying to. Tonight, I have finally managed it and can proudly present you with the disassembled code to draw a forward slash in Courier face:
/slash {
114 602 hsbw
20 callsubr
77 -13 rmoveto
307 661 rlineto
3 6 2 6 0 6 rrcurveto
19 -17 14 -18 vhcurveto
-20 0 -10 -14 -14 -29 rrcurveto
-305 -657 rlineto
-3 -7 -2 -7 0 -6 rrcurveto
-19 16 -15 18 vhcurveto
21 0 10 15 12 27 rrcurveto
closepath
endchar
} NDFor the past few weeks I’ve been thinking about (and talking about, and waving my arms about) typography and how it affects space. Especially Helvetica. Now it’s time to think about making something, so I’m turning the idea and around and looking at how space could affect type.
Chris showed me one of his projects called I-Beam where he negotiated with different groups of creatives (architects, dancers and dyslexics) to design their own typeface. He asked me what kind of typeface a programmer would make, and I had a strange feeling that I already knew the answer to that one. Here’s an R from the Peter Cho’s Typeface composed of pie segments:
{50, 310, 310, 50, 40, 185, 200, 107, 133, 180}
Computer typefaces and made up of a set of points, which are stored as numbers. So all you need to make a typeface (as a programmer) is some numbers and an idea. My idea, is to make a typeface that is affected by a space. And I know a space with a lot of numbers in it. I’m going to use the Arch-OS system in Portland Square to generate a typeface from the live data coming out of the building.
Chris pointed out that if the typeface were just generated the once, it would be frozen in time, and that would be a bit rubbish. So the idea is to update the typeface as the data changes and have the font files updated on the system automatically, so every time you came back to your dissertation, the typography would have changed.
We watched the film Déjà Vu (under the pretext that it would be useful to help us think about space) and ended up having a massive argument about time travel afterwards. There was actual shouting. Spoiler time…
Denzel Washington’s character goes back in time to prevent something that happened four days ago and manages to get himself killed in the process. By saving the day though, he gives himself no reason to go back in time in four days time to stop it from happening. Which is where it gets confusing. The film mentions branching realities, and Luke is happy with that explanation. Adam and me however, have a problem with it. The problem is that one reality causes the other to exist, and the reality that is created prevents the previous from happening. At which point a time paradox causes the universe to explode.
It’s all explained in this helpful diagram (which is a recreation of the one I drew at the time).
Talked for a few minutes about my current thinkings on Helvetica and Space to a group of slightly confused / hideously hungover first years. It went alright; they didn’t really know what the hell I was going on about, but that’s ok. I made a rather nice keynote presentation for the occasion, of which you download a pdf version if you are so inclined. You won’t be get the nice transistion effects though, so just shut your eyes and think of Steve Jobs instead.
The hunch I’ve been having is that type, especially Helvetica, can have an effect on space as much as a person can; in the right context. The fact the capital R allegedly looks like a penis isn’t particularly relevant, but it makes for a good slide.
It seems like I can’t talk about Helvetica without mentioning Arial (again), so today I’m going to talk about Monotype Grotesque. And then we’ll get back to Helvetica and the sniggering at the capital R can continue. First of all, a comparison of Arial and Monotype Grotesque:
Apart from a few variations in the strokes, character spacing and proportions they’re pretty similar. Arial was based upon Monotype Grotesque; tweaked to look better on screen and for printing from laser printers (as far I can tell anyway, it’s quite hard to find anything about Arial in typography books, they get all sniffy about it). Now here’s where it gets typographically interesting; this new Arial with its tweaked spacing and proportions, just so happened to very closely match the spacing and proportions of Helvetica. And then a certain Microsoft adopted it as their default sans-serif and from then on, rightly or wrongly, Arial was stuck with a reputation as a cheap Helvetica knock-off.
One more thing…
In 1956, Max Miedinger was commissioned by the Haas’sche Schriftgiesserei (Haas type foundry) to develop a new sans-serif typeface. Haas Grotesk was designed and released in 1957, inspired by (and intended to compete with) Akzidenz Grotesk; at the time a leading typeface in the ‘Swiss design’ movement.
In 1960 Neue Haas Grotesk was renamed Helvetica (Latin for Swiss), a clever marketing ploy, for it ended up becoming synonymous with ‘Swiss design.’
That is clever.
I’ve been reading actual dead-tree books whilst researching this (the Wikipedia articles were a bit rubbish, not to mention inconsistent) — Helvetica: Homage to a typeface by Lars Müller and Sans serif: The ultimate sourcebook of classic and contemporary sans serif typography by Cees W. De Jong.
Whilst I’ve been out and about looking for Helvetica, I’ve run into a lot of it’s evil, but non-identical, twin Arial. Sometimes it’s a little tricky to tell them apart, but this is what I look for:
Right, well now you can test yourself on this Helvetica or Arial quiz. It’s quite difficult.
